Crowdfunding campaign launched for mosque gutted by suspected arson

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help repair a Manchester mosque gutted by a suspected arson attack.

The Manchester Nasfat Islamic Centre was badly damaged by a blaze late on Sunday 17 July, leaving three classrooms and the main prayer hall gutted.

Greater Manchester Police said the fire was being treated as suspicious and an investigation is now under way.

The mosque, in the Newton Heath area of the city, had previously been hit by anti-Islamic abuse, with eight attacks recorded in four years.

Repeated incidents

Monsurat Adebanjo-Aremu, branch secretary of the centre, told the Manchester Evening News that men had urinated outside the building and two pigs’ heads were once thrown into the mosque during worship.

Three years ago, a minibus used by the mosque was also set alight by suspected arsonists.

No-one was inside at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported, but 24 hours earlier members of the predominantly African mosque had attended a national peace rally in Trafalgar Square.

Anti-Muslim hatred monitoring project, Tell MAMA, is leading the crowdfunding campaign to raise £50,000 to help repair the mosque.